Black Sales Journal

2014 is still going, but as we get to mid-October it is obvious that you have just under three months to make goals, and possibly save your job, or make additional gains which might also give you a financial boost.

You almost want to tell your prospect or customer: “It’s the Fourth Quarter, Do You Want to Buy or Not?!!!!”

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Three months is far from an eternity, but it is enough time to make some things happen.

It is a tough economy out there so some customers are not making decisions with the timeliness that you might need, but that is the way that the last quarter goes.  I am going to pose some basic actions that might make it more clear what your opportunities are, and maybe even help give results when you need them most.

It’s Not Now or Never – But Now Would Be Better!

I once was buying for a large social service organization.  Having had a sales background I marveled at how many of the sales professionals (some more professional than others) tried to get me ‘off the dime’.  In many cases they did not realize some of my limitations, such as the funding cycles of a not-for-profit.

As a buyer, and as a sales professional and sales manager, I recognize that the more you know about your customer, and their liberties or limitations, the better you are.  Remember as well that everything pivots off of the relationship.  If you have a strong durable relationship, you can approach topics that others might find more difficult.

Stay in front of your buyer – But with a purpose! – Face-to-face is the always the best way to put the gentle pressure on to close a deal.  For customers who appear slow to make a decision you will want to set-up last quarter meetings to discuss any number of items (customer satisfaction, upcoming year needs, recaps of services during the current year, etc.).  If you set up these meetings at mid-year, it puts you in front of the client at a crucial time…decision time.

Use tact and probes to determine objections. – This is no time to ‘jelly foot’ around.  You need to use your probing and interview skills to determine why you can’t close this one.  Be tactful and direct in determining what the objections are, and realize that getting to the bottom of this is easier than finding a new prospect.  Something is keeping the customer from making a decision; your job is to make sure that it is not some aspect of your product, organization, or you.  If you don’t have the right product-price combination, get your customer to tell you without negotiating against your own organization by cutting the price before you know if that is the problem.

Add something of value! Move to close. – I am not into ‘smoke and mirrors’, but you may have to find something that has either service or economic value, and ‘sweeten the pot’.  You can’t let the offers hang out there indefinitely, but you probably don’t want to retract them.  A suggestion is that you can try adding  things to the offers for a limited time.  Make sure it is something that you can afford to give, and remember that you should be able to put some value on it, because if you cannot, your customer will assume it is of little value.  An example would be, a financial products sales professional indicating telling the customer that if he/she consummates the deal that in the months of November or December that they will receive a retirement planning session for free.

Keep Score

Nothing is worse than believing in the unbelievable.  Make a list of your prospects/customers that owe you answers and grade them.  Just being honest with yourself is worth bundles.  Spend your time making the most probable ones happen, and move down the list from there.

Don’t leave stones unturned and questions unanswered. Tie up the loose ends and by all means, be the professional.

Your comments are welcome.

By now you know my sentiments regarding the strength of being an expert.  Being an expert gives you preference. It is the type of preference that all sales professionals covet.  Black sales professionals should want to be bestowed with this tag any time that they can have it.

This type of preference is earned by doing those things in preparation that lays the groundwork for the ‘expert’ status.  We need to include doing things to get the notoriety and acclaim for having accomplished this groundwork.

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What Makes You an Expert?

Being an expert means that you have a deep knowledge of a particular topic.  I have advocated that expert status gives youpreference, yet you still have to earn it by doing what is right in the customer’s eyes.  In other words, you still have to perform.

There are many things that may give the perception that you are an expert.  We will cover the items that generally customers perceive as helping to earn expert status.  Remember, perception is reality to the customer.

A positive perception can give you a preference that can be so powerful, possibly only being “triumphed” at times by the preference on the part of the customer of the “business friend” (Black Sales Journal 1/13 Deepening Customer Relationships) relationship level and some other relationship-based levels.

Here are some items that can help you be perceived as an expert:

• Vast experience
• Accreditations & Designations
• Education, Certifications, and degrees
• Renown Speaker
• Letters of Recommendations and Reference
• Association Membership
• Publishing

There may be other items, yet these can be meaningful in attaining an expert status.

Vast Experience – This is solid.  If you are able to boast that you have a wealth of customers and have delivered solutions to them (Black Sales Journal 6/20 Deliver Solutions, Then Sell!!), you probably can boast to be expert on a class of business, geographic area, or product.  Grouping your customers to determine your expertise would be important.  You will need to “develop” a product or “package” offering, yet this is quite doable.

Accreditations  & Designations – These are important, and very durable.  Going through some type of training or educational program, and normally testing for proficiency in the end can result in attainment.  In some cases, they are very formal, and in other cases, they are less formal, yet they yield a “diploma” in most cases.  For example, my degree from a four-year university did not mean much in the world of commercial lines insurance, so I engaged in additional educational coursework and designations (CPCU – Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter, ARM – Associate in Risk Management, and AIAF – Associate of Insurance Accounting and Finance).  I showed these designations proudly on my business card to show my expertise as well as my devotion to the industry that I was in.   It was helpful in convincing many that I was committed and qualified.

Education, Certifications, and Degrees – This one is very much like the one above.  Note that education can include the extent of your education; including bachelors and masters level education.  Certifications can include completion of certificate programs that do not render a degree, yet do show the fact that completion of the program shows some mastery of the subject matter.  A sales professional selling institutional food products and cooking implements that has a certification in food safety would be someone who a restaurant owner might listen to.

Renowned Speaker – I recognize that every sales professional does not desire to be a prominent speaker.  Some know a subject matter to such a degree that they can attain a “speaker” status.  If they know the subject matter well enough to help others by speaking on it.  If you are in that group, you can allow this to work for you by making sure that you have a platform to pass the information along.  This includes press clippings, mentions in blogs, or entries in your own blog or written information.

Referrals and Recommendations – This one is simple from the standpoint of making sure that those who have benefited from your delivery of solutions “reduce it to writing.”  It allows you to distribute the document to show your expertise.  The objective is to have a proof source to support your strengths.  It is more esoteric than some of the other solutions, yet it can be effective.

Association Membership – This one certainly does not denote true expertise, yet could support your commitment and professionalism.  It can be used in conjunction with the others to show the commitment that might tip the scale.  For example, if you are a sales professional who works heavily with the general contractors, you can join a chapter of a contractor organization.  Joining the New York General Contractors Association would be evidence of support for the group as well as a commitment to working with contractors.  It can result in you having the association logo on your card, and getting great information to use in your solicitation effort such as a members list, legislative information, and current issues and events.

Publishing – This would include having your information put to print, or could be something easier to do such as blogging.  This is more work than many of the items above, yet can be fruitful.  If you do it with other items like speaking, it could be quite easy as the subject matter would be something that you had an engagement on.  One way or another, it would keep you in the public eye, and addressing the issues.

You Still Must Perform

None of this makes a difference if you don’t perform when you act in the capacity of the expert.  Researching, answering questions, and acting as counselor (BSJ, The Consultative Selling Style  6/6/2011) only works, if you know what you are talking about, and give real value.

What is normally the case is that several of the items above are combined to assure a customer of the sales professionals expert status.  The sales professional who not only has the education, but also the certifications and designations, coupled with the requisite vast experience might get consideration as an expert by a customer.

When the Black Sales professional has one of these combinations, preference is within reach as few customers will avoid dependence on a proven expert unless the water is teaming with them.

Prepare yourself, and claim your status.

Your comments are welcome.